1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of installing a ridge cover on a roof, for example, on the hips, ridges, or rakes of the roof. Such a ridge cover is be a low-cost, durable and highly aesthetic shingle product which is installed at the ridges, hips, and rakes of a roof where planar sections of the roof surface intersect. When properly installed, in addition to providing excellent weather protection, the ridge covers cooperatively give the ridges, hips, or rakes somewhat an appearance of depth like that of a shake roof. A part of this appearance of depth arises from the actual thickness of the ridge covers, which in a central part of the ridge covers may be several times the thickness of asphalt composition shingles. Another part of this appearance of depth is created by shadow lines cast by the ridge covers upon adjacent ridge covers. This appearance of depth can give a roof a more pleasing appearance even though the planar portions of the roof are covered with conventional asphalt shingles which do not have such an appearance of depth.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of consistently and repeatably installing such ridge covers in a selected position relative to one another so that in cooperation the shadow lines created on adjacent ridge covers are consistent and the aesthetic appearance of the roof is improved. At the same time, this uniformity of relative position at installation improves the weather protection provided by the ridge covers. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a guide tool for use in practicing the method. The guide tool may be used by a roofer in installing the ridge covers on a roof in order to eliminate previous error-prone installation methods. These conventional and error-prone installation methods include the labor-intensive individual measuring of the position of each ridge cover relative to an adjacent ridge cover, and the visual judging of this relative position based on experience and judgment.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional low-cost organic asphalt composition ridge cover is known in accord with U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,294, issued Oct. 21, 1975 to B. Freiborg. A problem with the Freiborg ridge cover is its low fire resistance rating, and relative fragility, especially during installation. During installation of such ridge covers, the installer opens the ridge cover from a folded position to a position matching the angulation of the intersecting planar portions of a roof, at a ridge, hip, or rake. The ridge covers are then nailed in place conventionally. However, during this bending open of the ridge covers preparatory to installation the Freiborg ridge covers have been known to fracture through so that they are no longer usable.
An improved asphalt composition ridge cover is also known in accord with U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,711, issued Nov. 22, 1994 to Joseph E. Pressutti, et al (hereinafter, the '711 patent). In contrast to the teachings of the conventional thinking in the field of roofing materials, the '711 patent teaches to make a ridge cover structurally similar to that taught by the Freiborg '294 patent, but which is formed of a base of fiberglass mat or felt with a fill-coat of impregnating asphaltic material especially modified to make it less brittle. The modified asphaltic material may be considered somewhat rubbery in comparison to the rather brittle asphaltic materials used by Freiborg, for example, especially at cooler temperatures. The fiberglass felt and asphaltic material are combined in such a way as to provide a composition structure of inorganic glass fibers in an asphaltic matrix which is uniform substantially through the thickness of the ridge cover.
This construction of ridge cover surprisingly has been discovered to tolerate sharp back bending at least as well as or even better than the old organic asphalt composition material. It is believed that the modified asphaltic material impregnating into the mat of glass fibers surrounds and supports these fibers such that the mat will tolerate sharp bending. The matrix of modified asphaltic material, rather than itself being brittle, is somewhat rubbery and may distribute bending forces in the composite structure of the shingle rather than itself fracturing and concentrating bending forces on the glass fibers. An outer coating of granular mineral material is adhered to the base with an additional layer of the modified asphaltic material.
Despite the shortcomings outlined above, the ridge cover according to the Freiborg patent has been a commercially successful product for many years. However, during this time, inorganic composition roofing materials have been developed which are considerably more flexible, durable and fire resistant than the conventional asphalt composition roofing materials of organic felt layered with asphalt and mineral granules. Specifically, these improved modern roofing materials include a sheet-like mat or felt of inorganic glass fibers with a layer of coating-grade asphaltic material partially impregnating the inorganic felt. The fire-resistance rating of these field shingles is much better than could be provided by the Freiborg ridge cover. Accordingly, the more recent Pressutti ridge cover provides a fiberglass composition ridge cover with a fire rating as good as the modern field shingles. Additionally, the Pressutti ridge cover is easier to apply, and suffers little or no damage during the installation process, in contrast to the damage-prone Freiborg ridge cover.
Again, it will be appreciated that during installation of ridge covers according to either the Freiborg or Pressutti patent referenced above, the installer removes the ridge covers from a shipping box, within which the ridge covers are in a folded closed position, somewhat like the pages of a closed book. From this position, the installer opens the ridge covers, somewhat like opening a book, and lays them sequentially atop the ridge, hip, or rake of the roof on which they are nailed. The installer starts at the lower end of a hip or rake, or at one end of a ridge, and installs the ridge covers upwardly toward the peak of the roof, or along the ridge from end to end. Conventionally, roofers use a notch formed on shingles or ridge covers to simply "eye ball" a correct position for the roofing products relative to one another as each successive shingle or ridge cover is nailed in place. Frequently, the relative positioning of roofing products is acceptable if they are within .+-.1/4 inch of a desired relative position, and roofers are used to working with this relatively lax positional accuracy requirement. However, ridge covers of the type at hand may have an overlap dimension of only 1/4 inch. In other words, a variation of relative position of only 1/8 inch can be half of the desired overlap, and is very significant in the installation of these ridge covers. Yet this accuracy requirement is twice as severe as roofers are used to working with.
Thus, some roofers may use a measuring stick or ruler in an attempt to obtain better positional uniformity when installing ridge covers, but still rely only on sight to place the ridge covers. Considering the pace at which such installations are carried out, especially with the use of power nail guns, it is not surprising that some of the ridge covers are frequently installed with an improper or non-uniform overlap, and resulting improper or non-uniform shadow lines on the roof.
To repeat, an important consideration in achieving an attractive appearance for a roof by use of ridge covers according to the Freiborg or Pressutti teaching is the correct spacing and uniformity of this correct spacing from one ridge cover to the next along a ridge, hip, or rake of the roof. As mentioned above, when properly installed on a roof, these ridge covers cooperatively give the ridges, hips, or rakes somewhat an appearance of depth like that of a shake roof. Part of this appearance of depth arises from an actual thickened portion of the ridge covers. And another part of this appearance of depth arises from shadow lines cast by an overhanging portion of each ridge cover upon an adjacent ridge cover. This appearance of depth can give a roof a more pleasing appearance even though the planar portions of the roof are covered with conventional asphalt shingles which do not have such an appearance of depth.
A critical aspect of this shadow-line depth appearance of the ridge covers as installed is the achievement of a uniform and proper overlap of each ridge cover along a ridge or up a hip or rake over the adjacent or next lower ridge cover. Dependent upon the position of the sun in the sky, the shadows cast by the ridge covers on one another can give a uniform and pleasing appearance to properly installed ridge covers, or can reveal the inconsistencies of improperly installed ridge covers. In the case of improperly installed ridge covers, some of the shadow lines may not be deep enough to conceal the thickened portion of the underlying or next adjacent ridge cover. Thus, a person on the ground who is viewing the roof will see a non-uniformity of the shadow lines along a ridge, hip, or rake, and may even see some of the thickened portions of the ridge covers which are illuminated by ambient light rather than being in shadow.
In view of the above, it would be desirable for roofers to have an inexpensive, rugged, easily and quickly used guide tool for guiding the installation of ridge covers according to the Freiborg or Pressutti teachings. Such a guide tool likely could be used to install other types of ridge covers in which uniformity of relative spacing is important for appearance or other reasons.